Is the ACT government in denial over the January storm response?

It says: "Thank you for submitting your tree-related request and for your patience while we inspected the situation and undertook works resulting from the recent storm. Your incident has now been resolved and all appropriate action has been taken. Thank you for your inquiry".

I have replied: "The incident is not resolved. You have undertaken no relevant works on the issue. No appropriate action has been taken. I have written to the Minister about it. But he has not done anything either. The broken branches and damage still remain across the parkland. The only reason they are not still across the footpath is that I and my wife cleared it. The branches and leaves remain a fire danger. It is now more than two months since I advised you of the storm damage. It is almost three weeks since I advised the Minister of the fire risk to my home stemming from it. I have long since stopped being patient".

By allowing house prices to rise astronomically over the last two years, the LNP government has looked after its main constituency very well. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority intervened in the market last October by raising the buffer rate at which mortgages are assessed to three per cent above the current rate. It should have done so much earlier and on a couple of occasions before then.

Last October APRA stated that it may step in again this month and raise the buffer rate further. It does this to reduce lending and the amount of mortgages taken out and hence slow the rise of house and unit prices. This action also protects people taking out mortgages as when interest rates go up three per cent, they will still be able to meet their loan repayments. APRA is likely to act again.

The government also ignored the fact more women after divorce will be unable to get back into the market, already difficult as most end up primary carers. Those who can re-enter the market "are more likely to buy units than houses, which have a smaller rate of gain". This reduces women's economic security ("Mind the gap for women on property ladder", canberratimes.com.au, March 8).

Moreover, increasing house and unit prices delayed the entry of many first home buyers into the market, adding to their level of stress and anxiety and creating more inequality. Housing affordability should be major issue in the forthcoming election. I hope this will be the case. Expand APRA's role if necessary.

The Ukrainian military was written off even though they have 210,000 active personnel, 110,000 paramilitary, 900,000 reservists and the home ground advantage (access to volunteers) according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

They also have more than 17,000 tanks, armoured vehicles and units of artillery according to the Firepower website. Ukraine also has a strong armaments' industry which includes a tank works in Kharkiv which was the 12 largest exporter of armaments in 2019.

While Russia's military assets are three times greater, Russia is 28 times larger in area and will therefore only commit a relatively small percentage of their assets to the current conflict.

It is also likely that some of these committed assets are being kept in reserve.

The Ukrainians probably outnumber the invading force by at least three to one (and probably more) on the ground.

Based on this, the idea the Russians could defeat the Ukrainians militarily and then occupy the country was never likely.

The conventional military wisdom since World War II has been that in order to guarantee success attackers should outnumber defenders by at least three to one.

In the event the defenders are occupying heavily fortified positions that ratio can rise to five to one or even more. During the trench warfare of World War I it was not unusual for attacking commanders on both sides to achieve local superiority of up to seven to one before sending their troops over the top and into no man's land.

An interesting exception to this rule of ratios was the Battle of El Alamein where Montgomery achieved a strategic victory with a numerical superiority of just over two to one.

He did this by using force multipliers such as massed artillery and aircraft and by some very clever generalship that took into account the nature of the terrain and the disposition of Rommel's troops.

Putin, unfortunately for him, doesn't appear to have any Montgomerys, Rommels, Pattons, Marshalls, Zhukovs, Vasilievskys, Konevs or Rokossovskys on his military staff.

The Ukrainians, on the other hand, appear to be very adept at deploying the tactics Arminius used to destroy Varus's three legions in 9 AD.

In his address to the Lowy Institute on Monday Scott Morrison continued to politicise the security and defence of Australia.

According to the PM the LNP "are the proven choice when it comes to protecting Australia's national security interests".

This is in stark contrast to the approach taken by the leadership of the Ukraine where war is real, not just a prop in a tawdry electoral campaign.

President Zelensky does not claim that only his party can defeat the Russians; he seeks to unite his people against the invaders.

Given that only the Coalition can be trusted to defend Australia, perhaps those electorates that are so foolish to vote Labor do not deserve to be defended in the event of an invasion.

Should we set up a Kirribilli line to replace the apocryphal Brisbane Line of World War II?

On my way to work and on my way home I hear the voices of flood survivors on the radio.

They have no clean water, no food, no power, no fuel, no communications, and no access.

Does this sound familiar?

Flames, not flood waters, put the Bega Valley in those same shoes over two years ago.

Those who took part in the government reviews that followed did so hoping it would be better for the next community to face such a challenge.

Perhaps the experience of our friends and family in northern New South Wales have come too soon for the wheels of change.

There is a lot going on in the world to take focus away, but look closely at those headlines. Behind each is a community drawing on its assets, its skills and its depth to cope and survive in the hope of flourishing again.

Disaster is just that, and it always will be. But if this is to be part of our future, let the silver lining be stronger communities shaped by local people and governments together.

Further to Helen Goddard's comments (Letters, March 9) as a fairly regular traveller between Canberra and the Central Coast, I have noted that at the Marulan and Mount White inspection stations the majority of trucks are directed to "return to highway" by a sign before the bypass lane.

They roar through and barge their way out into the traffic without having to stop.

Presumably only their weight is checked as I don't believe that technology is far enough advanced to check tyre condition, brakes and steering etc on the move at 60 to 70 km/h .

A more meaningful statistic would be the percentage of trucks properly checked versus the number travelling through these stations.

Regarding our ever-worsening levels of housing affordability and amenity, the ACT government definitely needs to favour greenfield development over "densification".

We don't have a "sprawl" problem and the Territory Plan includes plenty of suitable government-owned environmentally sustainable land.

The government should take on the "market", by setting new land plot prices at the publicly ascertainable cost to produce, plus say, 10 per cent, on a block-by-block basis; increasing supply; selling new plots, one each, only to deed-bonded, bona fide owner-occupiers; and encouraging "starter" homes.

It should increase new block sizes, without increasing the footprint of new estates, say via more well-addressed "battle axe" blocks; utilise steeper land there; and preserve soil profiles and natural vegetation.

Existing back yards should be preserved; this doesn't preclude dual occupancies with basement car parking.

Government should stop stipulating a selected number of stigmatising "affordable" (lower grade designs and builds) dwellings in new developments.

It should, of course, encourage the phasing out of negative gearing, and reduced capital gains tax. It must improve safety, amenity, solar-access, and urban design rules.

The only way to get bullies to back down is to stand up to them. The West's supine response to Putin's invasion of Ukraine only encourages his bullying behaviour. Until this behaviour is challenged by overwhelming force Putin will continue to threaten and bully.

The only conclusive thing to emerge from the battle for Ukraine is that the standard of the Russian generals is abysmal. Despite an overwhelming advantage in troop numbers and materiel Putin's troops are performing poorly, mainly due to logistical mismanagement.

When my parent's families and the nations to which they belonged ceased killing each other many decades ago the first thing my Mum and Dad did was to fall in love.

There is one certainty about Putin's invasion of Ukraine, no matter its outcome. He loses. Should the brave Ukrainian people repel the invasion, Putin will lose. On the other hand, if at a terrible cost he gains control of their government, Putin will go down in history as a murderous tyrant.

The big bad steppenwolf is on the loose again. It's in Ukraine now but there's other game to chase, in particular appeasement. There's also a selection of domino states. Unless democracies are deft there will be fewer of them. There are harsh measures the wolf of the steppes won't like. Take them now.

I agree with Janet Cossart (Letters, February 6). I too found Amanda Vanstone's article biased, carping and critical. I have observed this in her writings for some while. I suggest the media give her a rest.

So as to avoid religiously and possibly sexually linked terms, could the name for the seasonal pastries starting to be available now be changed to "warm angry rolls"?

Henry David Thoreau: "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root". So it is with action on road crashes which claim lives and cause incalculable societal disruption annually. ("Rushed rule changes rolled out, but little genuine reform", March 5, p4).

Two weeks ago we wondered what it would take to get COVID-19 off the front page. Now we know: Putin's war in Ukraine, devastating floods and the untimely passing of two cricketing greats.

Sue Wareham questions whether NATO is an anti-aggression pact (Letters, March 7). It is precisely that. Putin wants to restore the power of the former USSR. If NATO is not such a pact why has he not attacked a NATO country? It is no coincidence he attacked Ukraine; a non-NATO member.